Frank Lampard has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance at Coventry City to guide the Sky Blues into the Championship play-offs and nobody has benefitted from his arrival more than Jack Rudoni
The old saying goes that you should never meet your heroes. Fortunately, Jack Rudoni never got the memo.
Long before Rudoni, 23, fired Coventry into the Championship play-offs last weekend with a match-winning brace to sink Middlesbrough, he had all the hallmarks of a goalscoring midfielder; even if he had to bide his time before plundering his maiden senior goal.
«Not before time» was the verdict of then-AFC Wimbledon manager Glyn Hodges after watching Rudoni finally manage said feat against Bristol Rovers in an EFL Trophy tie back in January 2021.
There were near misses aplenty during that period but it was always a foregone conclusion that the floodgates would open once Rudoni was eventually off the mark in the famous yellow and blue of Wimbledon.
The footballing gods have played a blinder, then, pairing the Coventry City star up with one of England’s finest ever goalscoring midfielders.
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It’s no slight on Frank Lampard that he probably wasn’t even aware of Rudoni back when, in an interview with The South London Press during the youngster’s rise to prominence at Wimbledon, the fleet-footed Rudoni name dropped Lampard as one of his footballing idols. “I’m a Chelsea fan, so I always looked up to Frank Lampard.”
Four years on, ‘Rudi’ is elevating his game to new heights under Lampard, who has restored his own reputation by guiding Coventry into the Championship play-offs.
Lampard inherited a good team in a bad place following the departure of the supremely popular Mark Robins. But while the squad may still bear Robins’ fingerprints, Lampard’s influence is beginning to shine through in Rudoni.
Rudoni is in the midst of his most productive ever season, with his tally of nine goals and 12 assists surpassing his Wimbledon record from the 2021-22 campaign.
His impact since Lampard’s arrival cannot be understated: no Coventry player has amassed more goal contributions in the league since Lampard took the reins in the final throes of November than Rudoni, who ghosted into the penalty area in the box-office showdown with Middlesbrough with all the poise and predatory instinct that made the former Chelsea and England midfielder such a cheat code his prime playing years.
While Rudoni has long harboured the trait of arriving late in the box, it’s clear his manager is doing what he can to harness it.
Lampard revealed post-match that he and Rudoni had been out on the training pitch alone in the days leading up to the match that would make or break Coventry’s season relentlessly working on finishing. “I think Thursday me and him just stayed out working on little cutbacks and finishes in different areas and it’s good because today showed that when you do that, you score; it happens.”
Those two goals, his eighth and ninth of the season, could prove to be priceless if Coventry can go on and land the golden ticket which would guarantee them a slice of riches on offer in the Premier League.
Rudoni couldn’t have been further away from the elite when he was let go by Crystal Palace as a youngster. But he took his licks in non-league before rebuilding in the academy at Wimbledon, where he promptly emerged to stand head and shoulders above his peers after settling in the senior ranks.
A solid if unspectacular two years at Huddersfield Town followed. Perhaps Rudoni has been hamstrung by his own versatility has held him back; he had played a wealth of football in different positions prior to his switch to Coventry in the summer.
He now looks like a Premier League player in all but name after being given a license to roam with the Sky Blues, who have been flexible tactically during the run that has seen Lampard elevate them from 17th to fifth.
Lampard is better placed than anyone to understand how deadly a player like Rudoni can be in a high-stakes environment. The jeopardy doesn’t get much higher than the four-team shootout that bookends the EFL season, culminating in the richest match in football at Wembley.
Rudoni has always possessed the talent. The technical ability. That knack of being at the right place at the right time. One advantage he has over his childhood hero, as Lampard has quipped, is his heading ability, which came to the fore during his formative years in Wimbledon.
And with Lampard now in his corner providing counsel, there’s no limit to how high Rudoni can go.
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